Wednesday, 8 April 2015

I may be a little
odd (yeh, you knew that already…), but I like interviews. I like them whether
it’s an interview for a job, engagement or trying to land a new client. I like
them, because they are exercises in thinking how I can solve business problems
with technology and realizing what I don’t know.

Some people
get worried about this ‘lack’. I understand why and know it’s not often spoken
about. So, let’s talk about it.

You can’t know everything

So often,
junior members of staff get worried that they won’t know something they’re
asked about.

Firstly,
there will ALWAYS be something you don’t know, of or about. Just today a
colleague who is a member of the CIPD advised that some interview questions can
follow the STAR^ approach. “The what?” was my reply. Yup, 43yrd old, nearly 20
years experience, no idea what she meant. It will always be the way, relax with
it. In fact, revel in it. It’s what makes our profession so exciting to be in.

^(Situation,
Task, Action, Result)

The problem
we have is twofold;

1) the field
we are in is extensive and covers business and technology, so being expert and encyclopedically
knowledgeable on everything is impossible and;

2) there is
just too much depth in these areas, i.e. too many technologies for you to ever
learn. Do you know Java, JavaScript, C#, Ruby, C++ in equal measure? Didn’t think
so. How about WebSphere, Rails, Databases, ERMs, Performance or Security testing,
in equal measure? What about the business side such as UX design, Business
Analysis, Project Management, Service Desk? Qualified and experienced in all
fields? Exactly.

You can’t
know everything about everything and that’s OK.

You only know what you know

You might be
a fresher with zero to a few years of experience or a gnarly consultant like
myself who’s next milestone is his second decade in testing. You might be
somewhere in between. Here’s the news, you can’t be anywhere else, personally
or professionally, than where you are now. You just couldn’t have gained more
experience, studied more or been taught more. Again, that’s OK.

I know you
want to be more professional, more technical, more knowledgeable, more known
and so on; hey, me too. Don’t get overly stressed about where you are now, here
is the only place you can be.

It’s OK, so long as…

However,
there are a couple of catches with this “It’s OK” business, you need to know
how you’re going to respond to this
shortfall in your situation compared to where you’d like to be and if here is
where you should be.

Responding

When you don’t know, when you can’t answer, when the way forward isn’t clear
to you – what are you going to do? It’s critical that you know how to respond
when you get stuck. Stuck by a client’s need, stuck by and interviewer’s
question.

The simplest
response is to honestly say you don’t know, even if you think that’s going to
hurt their opinion of you or your organization. You have no other choice, you
CANNOT lie. However, you and be ambiguous and indirect, that’s different. No
one expects you to be ‘promoting’ what you don’t know, there’s no need to be
broadcasting it.

Often, we don’t
know things at different levels. I covered a model we could use in my other
post Why you’re not a Software Testing Expert. The art is in providing context as to why you don’t know something.
For example, I’m more than happy loading data into and pulling data from an SQL
database. I can even set up basic tables, keys, etc. However, I cannot tune a
database, make it resilient or secure. If asked why, the answer would be; the
admin side is something I’ve simply not done or as I focus on testing I work with
these systems as provided.

That’s fine.
I’ve said I don’t know, but I qualified it with what I do know and why what I don’t
know is actually not that important. Hopefully. If it is, then I’m not the
right person for the role. If this is a new client I’m trying to land then the
answer is different. Perhaps; I’m not 100% clear on that, but I know a couple
of people back at base that will be, let me raise it with them and get back to
you. Here the point is that as an organization, we know everything so me not
knowing is not a problem. Assuming there really is someone back at base, else
given we can’t lie we might not be the best company to delivery against the
client’s needs.

Do you know
how you will respond to not knowing? Respond without getting flustered, respond
in a way that makes you feel excited you just discovered a new area to study?

Should
you be here?

We waste a
lot of time and energy not focusing on what’s important, then regretting it
later. A question to ask is if that’s what you do. When the client or
interviewer catches you out, should you have known the answer, possessed the
knowledge? If so and if it’s because you’ve been intellectually lazy or undisciplined
then shame on you. You let yourself down and everyone who loves and possibly
relies on you, seriously. But hey, at least you know it now.

How you
develop yourself in what areas is a topic for another post and really something
for you to decide. Just realise that one day you may be in front of a client or
potential employer and get asked something you know you could know; if only you
would make the effort. Given that is so, go put in the effort! On the main
website, check out the Professional Development Plan template under Team Pack: http://www.cyreath.co.uk/template.html

Closing Thoughts

You can only
be where you are now, so don’t beat yourself up but excitedly look forward to
who you will be months or years from now. Get on with clarifying who that
future you is and working backwards, decide how you’re going to transform
yourself.

Where do you
want to be? How are you going to get there?

Not knowing
is OK, just decide how you’ll respond and what the path to ‘there’ is, then get
moving.

Mark.

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